4,000 stories from Newcity Stage
RECOMMENDED Paramount Theatre opens their Broadway Musical Series with a rousing "Oklahoma!" as impressive as last season's production of "Les Misérables." It's not just that Paramount Thea…
RECOMMENDED It's a familiar story: an ambitious man – or, far too infrequently, woman – seduced by the allure of success, pursues it with increasingly frantic vigor until they fi…
RECOMMENDED Chicago's opera enthusiasts must be collectively humming as the 2015/2016 opera season explodes on the scene with two Mozart operas, "Lucio Silla" at Chicago Opera Theater, and "…
RECOMMENDED Every time I see the name Neil Simon, I crack a smile because I know there are very few pieces of this comedic writing legend's work I can get through without serious amounts of …
The promises of punk are freedom and acceptance, which are, in the abstract, opposites. Punk is no stranger to contradiction. For decades, the iconic imagery of youthful rebellion has been c…
RECOMMENDED With only three months left in 2015, I am pretty sure that I can safely dub "Miss Buncle's Book" at Lifeline Theatre one of my favorite plays of the year. I cannot be sure it wil…
RECOMMENDED There is something pleasing about attending a solid production of a modern warhorse of a musical. There is something comfortable and enjoyable about laughing along at jokes that …
The setup is that of a globalized, post-modernized update of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," as two culturally upscale couples get together for an evening that goes very, very bad. Later …
RECOMMENDED At the conclusion of Will Goldberg's "Home Before Dark," Sean (Will Wilhelm) calls D.J. in Seattle after discovering his name and phone number scrawled on a piece of potentially …
It's hard to find a consistently good improv troupe. To gain the distinction of being good at anything requires a record of success, which is hard enough for the subjective art that is comed…
RECOMMENDED "An Asian actress?" A character in Nandita Shenoy's "Washer/Dryer" laughs in utter disbelief that such a thing could exist. It is that mindset coupled with the lack of diversity …
RECOMMENDED "Gem of the Ocean," set at the beginning of the twentieth century, is, chronologically, the first in August Wilson's Century Cycle, a one-play-per-decade examination of the Afric…
RECOMMENDED Certain arts organizations serve as cultural ambassadors"charged not just with providing an entertaining, aesthetic and perhaps thought-provoking experience, but also with purvey…
"Track 13" can't be reviewed as one would review a typical theatrical production. Discussing the acting, design, and arguably even plot, is to ignore the most salient part of the production:…
Comedy gets very little respect, considering how difficult it is to perform. As a comic like Chick Sherman, the suffering, titular funnyman in Bruce Graham's new play at Northlight, will att…
Given the subject matter, you might assume that the big issue of Nicolas Billon's "Butcher" is the morality of revenge. However, there is a more immediately pressing aspect of this play and,…
RECOMMENDED It is actually not easy putting on an opera. That is what producer and best great-grandson-ever Arlen Parsa said when he took the stage at the end of his triumphant production "A…
RECOMMENDED With all the magic in Shakespeare's plays, "The Tempest" still stands out for its wizardry, with the magician Prospero using supernatural forces to both seek revenge and achie…
RECOMMENDED Parenting is not an easy road to travel, generally. Throw into the mix a child who believes himself (or herself) to be of the sex that they weren't born as, and the road is sudde…
RECOMMENDED Despite four Tony Award nominations, "Side Show" seemed destined for the Forgotten Musicals shelf. But after enjoying success in regional theater, the show was reworked, and a le…
Chicago Fringe Festival: Part 4 Over the span of the Fringe Festival's ten days, I regularly heard this argument from non-Fringe goers: the Chicago theater scene is already pretty "fringy." …
RECOMMENDED If you consider yourself a true theater aficionado; if you like collecting shows you've seen and theaters you've been to; if you don't mind some nonsense; if you enjoy shows that…
RECOMMENDED As a critic, I get to see a lot of good shows. I also get to see a lot of bad shows. It just about evens out in the end. Every once in a while I see a show that stands out above …
Chicago Fringe Festival: Part 3 The Chicago Fringe Festival philosophy is one of minimal interference. There is little that suggests a policy of enforcement beyond the occasional presence of…
RECOMMENDED In honor of the way our generation has chosen to represent ourselves in art – and, as it follows, in life – I am lovingly filing The Runaways Lab's latest production …
